TV actress suffers burn injuries after husband sets her alight Share:

Islamabad – Television actress Nayab Khan is struggling for life in the Burn Care Center (BCC) of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) after her husband set her alight over a domestic dispute.

“It was the midnight of May 19th when Rasheed Mughal, my husband, lit his cigarette and then my cloths with the match box” said Nayab Khan whose 40percent body surface area has been burned.

Nayab was brought to BCC in critical condition where doctors saved her life, but have kept her admitted till the healing of her wounds.

21 year old Nayab Khan, who has starred in more than a dozen television plays, was focusing on her career when she met Rasheed Mughal, a journalist of a local scribe in Taxila.

“We met at a party at Taxila in January this year. Since then, Rasheed started following me, frequently contacted me and insisted for marriage,” said Nayab in her statement to the police.

Nayab, who comes from a low-income background, was bearing the expenses of her family of three; mother and two brothers.

She accepted Rasheed’s proposal without the consent of her family and eloped with him. The nikkah was solemnized Rasheed’s office.

In the beginning, Nayab remained in her mother’s home, but after two months of marriage she demanded Rasheed to publicly announce their marriage and shift her to his own home.

Rasheed initially evaded Nayab’s demand as his financial constraints do not allow him to afford another home.

However, later he was convinced to hire another house on rent but Nayab was asked to bear the financial burden of the deal.

“I paid the money, told my mother about my secret marriage and shifted to the rented house,” Nayab said in her statement.

On 19th of May, Rasheed came back home at 11 pm with his cousin Muhammad Hafeez while Nayab was at home alone.

“He ignored me and lit his cigarette, which led to my protest turning into a brawl between us,” said Nayab.

Nayab said he then took the match box and flamed my clothes and in a few minutes my body was burning.

After the incident, she was taken to a local hospital in Wah which referred her to the POF hospital burn center mentioning her unstable condition.

Despite her critical condition, Rasheed shifted Nayab from the hospital to his first wife’s home, where she was provided insufficient health care.

Nayab’s mother Jamshed Bibi was informed about the condition of her daughter six days after the incident which Rasheed hid from her family.

When her mother inspected the wounds, they were infected with maggots.

On the pressure of family, Rasheed Mughal along with Nayab’s mother shifted her to BCC and didn’t return.

In the statement given to police Nayab accused Rasheed for an attempt on her life and pleaded to arrest him.

“The incident has horrified her, she screams in the hospital that they will burn her”, said her mother Jamshed Bibi.

She said that Rasheed was arrested, but later on was released on bail because police filed a weak case against him.

“We are very poor people, I alone cannot pursue the case with my limited resources in the situation where I also have to look after my burnt daughter,” she said.

“We are neither safe as entertainers, nor as wives in society,” she said referring to the situation of her daughter.

The investigation officer Zafar Iqbal informed The Nation that Rasheed Mughal was arrested, but he obtained bail from court.

He also said that as per initial investigations Rasheed flamed her wife Nayab.

Doctors treating Nayab said that her patient’s condition is stable however; nearly 40 percent of the burned surface area has deep dermal wounds.

They said that lower limbs were affected with flame, while recovery will take time as the patient was not admitted on time.